Warren Gatland Quotes

New Zealand, Coach
September 17, 1963

Warren David Gatland, OBE is a New Zealand rugby union coach, currently the head coach of Wales. Since he became coach in 2007, Wales have won four Six Nations titles, including three Grand Slams, and reached the semi-final of the 2011 World Cup. Gatland was also head coach of the British and Irish Lions on their 2013 tour of Australia, where they won the Test series 2-1, and 2017 tour of New Zealand, when the series was drawn.

If you play the game and you think about coaching, you should know it's about listening to people and learning.

Warren Gatland
- Game
- Learning
- Play
Sometimes you have to put your balls on the line.

Warren Gatland
- Balls
- Line
- Put

Coaching is about not being afraid to be challenged and, above all, trying to enjoy the experience.

Warren Gatland
My aim is to create a happy environment where the players are working hard, but enjoying themselves. You've got to enjoy yourself, and you've got to have a bit of fun as well.

Warren Gatland
- Environment
- Enjoy
- Aim
Whereas a good player might do something really good in a game, a great player might do something two or three times in a row. That's what great players do, but they also work incredibly hard off the field in terms of the extra effort they've put into making sure their own performance gets better.

Warren Gatland
- Player
- Hard
- Performance
I get on well with people and I have really good relationships with the other coaches around me. I don't know everything about the games and I'm still learning all the time, so it's important to have an open mind.

Warren Gatland
As a coach, I want players to challenge me, to question me and ask why we're doing a certain thing, so they feel that they're taking ownership.

Warren Gatland
- Want
- Challenge
- Coach
We've all seen talented young players who get to a certain level but there comes a point where that talent will only take you so far. The great players go away and work on extra things. They work harder on their skills, they start having early nights and they think about their diet and training. That is what takes them to the next level.

Warren Gatland
- Work
- Players
- Level

For me coaching was all about being involved, and taking the best qualities from the coaches I had as a player and moulding them into my own personality.

Warren Gatland
A lot of coaching is about results and if you don't get the right results, you're going to get criticism, but if all things are going well then you can enjoy yourself.

Warren Gatland